


The Kids Will Be Alright

by sarka_stically



Series: fixing it [2]
Category: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Family Feels, Fix-It, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 17:00:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18102677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarka_stically/pseuds/sarka_stically
Summary: Follows up after my fic "How To Save a Life" and kinda plays a little bit more with an idea of Nellie making it out alive. Cause Crains deserve a happy ending.





	The Kids Will Be Alright

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo! I finally wrote the continuation. Dedicated to Frabialoveseverything, whose lovely comment actually made me write this.  
> Excuse my horrible grammar, i am not native speaker without beta and i literally wrote it on the way from-to school.

“I need a drink. “ Was the first thing Shirley heard, when she opened her porch door. She was just in middle of making the lunch and haggard looking Theo and placid Nellie weren't exactly the thing she expected to see.

Theo stormed though the kitchen and came back few seconds later, aggressively shoving her hands into gloves while holding a full bottle of whiskey in her underarm. She looked at Nellie, still standing in the door, as if checking she was still there. Only then she turned to Shirley:

„Do you know what I did today Shirl?“ Theo asked while simultaneously opening the bottle. She didn't wait for answer. „I drove three fucking hours to the god damned Hill house.“

„Why the hell would you do that?“

„Oh great question.“ Theo said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, and took a swing from the bottle. „But really you should ask Nellie that.”

Shirley turned to her youngest sister, who was still standing in the doorway, glossy eyes trailed on the ground. Instead of asking her anything (since Nellie showed no sign of perceiving what was happening around her), Shirley took Nellie by a forearm and gently walked her to a sofa. Nellie obediently sat down. Meanwhile Theo seemed livid.

“She went there Shirl!” Theo snapped “She went there to _visit mum_ , cause the fucking house was ‘ _calling her_ '"

Shirley sucked in a deep breath. And then another. It was not making any sense to her. This shouldn't be happening. This _wasn't_ happening. The house couldn’t hurt them, it never could. They left the past behind them, buried it along with mum.

But Theo was not done, only taking a short break to take another swing from the bottle.  

“And you know what is most fucking interesting about all this bullshit?” Theo didn't wait for an answer, her voice intensifying with each syllable “Nellie called you. Both you and Steve. And neither of you bothered to pick up the phone.”

“We didn't know what it was about! I would have picked up if I knew it was important.” Shirley defended, her voice shaking.

“She is our **sister**! It is always important!” Theo shouted. And then her strong little sister was brushing away tears of anger and shock. When Shirley tried to approach her Theo snapped.

“Don't you fuckin touch me Shirley!” Theo swats away her sister’s hand, walking backwards until her back hit the kitchen bar.

“…Luke.” slurred Nellie weakly.

“What was it, sweetie?” said Shirley, her whole posture suddenly changing, crouching in front of her baby sister as if she was one of her children.

“I need Luke.” Nellie pleaded softly.

…

Steve tapped on the steering anxiously, repeatably looking at the road and at the phone lying on the passenger seat.

 _What the hell was that call about?_ He had never heard Shirley sound so panicked. When in trouble Shirley always chose anger over fear. Not this time. What she said made no sense to Steve. How could Nellie be endangered by the house? It was just a building, it could not hurt anyone, Steve reasoned.

Logically, his sister’s fears were ridiculous. Then why was he shaking so bad? And why did he call the rehab to see if Luke was alright? And why was he now roaming the streets, looking for his brother?

He knew some of usual places Luke ended up in whenever he ran. Steve had a little faith in his brother when it came to his sobriety, but that didn't mean he didn’t come running whenever the Luke called in the middle of the night, crying and begging for Steven to get him because _“he couldn't do this anymore"_ and _“he would get better this time"._

Steve felt like an actor in a very bad play nobody was watching. ‘Steven Crain in a role of _man who is just riding through the streets, in middle of the night, way over speed limit, because he knows his sisters are wrong and there is NOTHING STRANGE GOING ON_ ’. He would get no awards for that role since he was doing a horrible job pretending that he was alright. By the time he drove to the third place he felt like ripping out his hair. At the fifth he called the rehab again. At the seventh he screamed at some hobo who vaguely reminded him of his brother.

In the end, he found Luke merely by a coincidence. Steve was just approaching location number nine, when he drove around an old abandoned playground, where he glimpsed a hunched form on a bench. There was not much visible, other than shabby clothes and a mop of dirty light hair, but Steve knew it was his brother. It took every ounce of his self-restraint to side park and not leave the car in the middle of the road (like he wanted).

From the car Steve ran to his brother, only to stop few feet from him, suddenly unsure.

“Luke?” Steve asked uncertainly, slowly approaching. It took him few more tries until his brother's head slowly lifted, his gaze meeting with Steve’s. Only positive thing Steve could say about the way Luke looked in that moment was that he was obviously not high. Other than that, Luke looked horribly. He was dirty and obviously beaten, with a swollen lip and torn eyebrow, bit of blood still streaming into his left eye. Steve didn't even want to imagine how much of the damage he couldn't see.

However, what horrified Steve the most was the look of utter devastation in Luke's eyes. It seemed like in his mind he was far away, and it was not a nice place. Steve wasn’t even sure his brother was aware he was there. When Steve crouched in front of him, Luke slowly whispered one single word: “Nellie?”

...

His children were the most important constant in Hugh’s life. Even when he hasn’t seen them in years. Even when they despised him. Even then he woke up every morning hoping wherever they were, they were happy.

Hugh wished nothing more than to see all his children again, at least for one last time. But never like this. When Shirley calls him, it is as if all his worst nightmares suddenly came true. He doesn’t even wait for Shirley to finish. He just hangs up and runs. Hugh still feels like it is not enough. Like he would be late again.

When he bursts through Shirley’s porch door Hugh is met with a very strange picture. His three older children are sitting on the ground, under Shirley’s bar, wine glasses in their hands and several empty bottles around them, all obviously drunk. Steve tries to take a sip of the red wine but instead spits in the glass, cracking up at something, excitedly gesticulating Theo said. Shirley hides her face in a sleeve of her sweater, trying to mask her embarrassment. Behind them, on the couch way too small for two people, twins are asleep, in a semihug, Nell’s head resting on Luke’s shoulder. In position like this, they can never be comfortable, but Hugh have not seen either of them happier or more peaceful in years.

In that moment, no matter what comes next, Hugh knows that his kids will be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and kudos are what keeps me breathing.


End file.
